Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Knight in Shining Armor
by CommanderKronos
Summary: Skye Fumatuso is a young man with a desire to help people and he believes that dueling is the best way for him to do it. He along with friends: Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, Alexis Rhodes, Celina Obsidian, Yuri Boyle, Bastion Misawa, and other students they'll meet in school have to survive their classes and help save the world. Skye and Celina are OCs, he uses Gem-Knights.
1. Chapter 1

The Duel Academy entrance exams have been underway for a while now, a group of Obelisk Blue students stand outside the stadium marking off names, coming to the realization that there are only two students missing. Check-in ends in a few minutes and as they begin putting the papers away a boy with short ruffled black hair appears, seemingly out of breath.

"Skye Fumatuso!" He puts his hands on his legs to in the hopes that it'll help him catch his breath. "Sorry I'm running behind, I'm not too late am I?"

"Just barely," one of the girls looks him up and down as if judging him by his looks. He wears a pair of dark jeans, and his junior high jacket. "Follow me." The two enter the round building to see people in the stands wearing colored jackets, watching all the new applicants attempt to join them in their school. "You'll be dueling just after this kid." She points to a kid wearing a white jacket, his black hair pushed out of his face so he can see.

As she starts to walk away realization hits Skye's face as he pulls an envelope out of his jacket. "I almost forgot! Could you give this to a," he pauses trying to remember what the name is, "Doctor Crowler?"

"What is it?" She takes the envelope from him, 'Vellian' is written in neat cursive on the front.

Skye shrugs before responding, "something my mother wrote. She said they were friends or something."

"Sure." As the girl walks away, the boy turns his attention to the duelist in front of him as the last applicant arrives in the stands, startling a short boy with bright blue hair.

"Wow, look at 'em go! Wow, that last guy really tore it up!" The latecomer, Jaden Yuki says from the short boy's side.

"Yeah- Bastion Misawa, they say he got the highest score on the written exam of all us applicants." Syrus Truesdale explains.

"Wow. I just barely passed!" Jaden responds.

"Yeah, me, too. My name's Syrus, by the way. I kind of have a thing where I get test anxiety- I don't know how I won my match."

"So, you're in!" Jaden smacks Syrus' back in an attempt to cheer the boy up. "Congratulations! I'll be in too as soon as I win my duel."

"Wait, you haven't dueled yet?"

"Nah."

"Then you might have a problem. I think he's supposed to be the last one!" Syrus gestures to Skye who's stepped into the arena across from a man in a blue jacket.

"Are you ready applicant?" The man asks, grabbing a deck from a case and shuffling it before placing it in his duel disk.

Skye puts off a smile as he pulls his own deck from his deck box on his belt. "Yes, sir." He then places his deck into his disk and steps across the field from his opponent. "Let's do this!"

**(Skye: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand/Proctor: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand)**

"I'll start this off, applicant!" The proctor adds a card to his hand and studies the hand, a smile showing on his face at the deck he seems to have picked. "I summon Defender, the Magical Knight in defense mode!" (Defender the Magical Knight: 1600/2000 1 Spell Counter) "When he's summoned I get to put a spell counter on him." He looks at his hand before placing two cards in his disk. "I place two face-downs and end my turn."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand/Proctor: 4000 LP 3 Cards in Hand 2 Face-Downs)**

"My move now!" Skye adds a card to his hand and seems to study them before beginning his move. "I summon Gem-Knight Alexandrite in attack mode!" A white knight with gems built into its armor appears on the field. (Gem-Knight Alexandrite 1800/1200) "Next I tribute Alexandrite to summon Gem-Knight Crystal from my deck!" (Gem-Knight Crystal 2450/1950) Alexandrite disappears and is replaced by a bigger knight with gems coming from its shoulder guards. "Crystal, destroy his Magical Knight!" Crystal grabs a chunk of crystal from its shoulder and throws it at the proctor's monster.

"I activate my face-down!" A card flips face-up on the proctor's side. "Magic Cylinder!" Two cups appear in front of Defender, the Magical Knight as the crystal disappears in one it shoots out the other and hits Skye. (Skye: 4000-1550 5 Cards in Hand) Up in the highest area of the stands, two blonde girls watch the duel with an older boy discussing the moves.

"He went in without thinking, he won't make it long here, even if he makes it out of this duel."

"He might surprise us, Alexis," the other girl adds, turning to face the boy, seeking his thoughts.

"It was a strong move, summoning Crystal, like that, but he didn't even consider what his opponent had planned," the boy states. "He needs foresight."

Back on the field, Skye places two cards of his own in his disk. "I play two face-downs and end my turn.

**(Skye: 1550 LP 3 Cards in Hand 2 Face-Downs/Proctor: 4000 LP 3 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down)**

"My move!" The proctor adds another card to his hand. "I tribute Defender, the Magical Knight in order to summon Magical Marionette in attack mode!" (Magical Marionette 2000/1000) A shadow appears holding up a puppet on strings wielding daggers. "Then I activate my face-down! Fissure!" A hole opens in the ground below Gem-Knight Crystal and swallows him into darkness. "This spell destroys the monster you control with the lowest attack." His smile turns grim for a moment. "Marionette finish this!" The puppet master sends his puppet rushing towards Skye who presses a button on his duel disk.

"Mirror Force!" The proctor's eyes widen slightly as his puppet slams into an invisible barrier before both he and the puppeteer are shattered. "I can activate this trap when my opponent attacks, it destroys all your attack position monsters," Skye explains.

"I'll end my turn with a face-down." The proctor grumbles out, seemingly embarrassed that he didn't end the duel there.

**(Skye: 1550 LP 3 Cards in Hand/Proctor: 4000 LP 2 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down)**

Skye looks at his hand on the top of his deck. I can do this. Just need to draw the right card. He pulls the top card of his deck and looks at it, a smile growing on his face. "I activate polymerization! I fuze the Gem-Knight Garnet in my hand with Gem-Knight Lazuli in order to summon…" A knight in red, a flame building in his hand, appears in the portal next to a much smaller knight. "Gem-Knight Ruby!" A knight in red with a blue cape holding a scythe-like weapon appears on the field. (Gem-Knight Ruby 2500/1300) "Then I activate Monster Reborn from my hand to bring back Gem-Knight Crystal!" (Gem-Knight Crystal 2450/1950) "Crystal attack!" Crystal begins to throw a crystal before the proctor activates his face-down.

"Enemy Controller!" A controller appears and the buttons begin being pressed. "This is a quick-play spell that allows me to change the battle position of one of your monsters, Crystal." Crystal stops her attack and crouches down, positioning his arms in front of him in a cross. "This duel isn't over yet."

"That's where you're wrong." Up in the crowds, Alexis seems confused.

"What's he talking about Zane?" The boy, now named Zane, doesn't respond, just keeps his eyes on the field.

"Gem-Knight Ruby's ability allows me to tribute another face-up Gem-Knight monster I control and until the end of this turn he gains attack points equal to its attack points." Ruby looks to the monster in front of it apologetically before slamming the butt end of its weapon into it as the crystal's on Crystal glow and the glow transfers to Ruby's weapon. (Gem-Knight Ruby 4950/1300) "End this!" Ruby rushes forward, his blade catching purple flames before slashing into the proctor, his life points dropping to zero.

"Well done applicant!" The hologram monster disappears as Skye adds the cards to his deck.

"Thanks, sir."

"I think we're done for the day." The proctor begins to lead Skye away and his eyes raise to look at the students who'd been watching his duel. His eyes meet those of a boy in the rafters who stands there with a couple of girls, all of them in blue.

Jaden makes his way to the field passing Skye along the way, both throwing a smile each other's way. "That was a great duel!"

"Thanks, good luck with yours." Jaden continues to move until he stands across from a weird-looking man wearing the familiar blue, though he seems too smug about something. Skye ends up stopping next to Syrus and Bastion who are ready to watch Jaden Yuki's match.

"That was an interesting duel," Bastion says once Skye stops at his side.

"Yours was great too."

"If I may, why Gem-Knights?" Bastion asks, causing Skye to turn to him in confusion. "They're just a rare thing to see."

"They just spoke to me." A smile grows on Skye's face as if he just made a clever joke that nobody but he understands. The attention is pulled away from Skye as Jaden's duel begins.

**The majority of this story will be in first person, I decided to do this first one in third but it won't be. This follows the events of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX with my own twist. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! its characters or anything but my own characters and their altered story.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Mom!"My voice gets higher as I attempt to stop my mother from trying to tame the mess on my head called hair. "I've got to go, I'm gonna miss my flight."

"Rose, let the poor boy go," my uncle states from behind my mother where he's been the whole time, enjoying my pain.

"_You're overdramatic,"_ A familiar voice states.

"I know," my mother takes a step back and just looks at me for a moment. "You've become a great man and duelist. You'll do great out there." Tears start to build in her eyes and before I can move forward to tell her it'll be fine she raises her hand telling me she's fine. "I love you, good luck." Then she leaves me in the room with my uncle.

"Skye," he crouches down so our eyes are on the same level and he can see my face. "I need you to remember everything we've taught you. Not everyone is taught the same thing and sometimes people will need your help without knowing it."

"I know. I've got to go or I'm gonna be late." Turning I push open the door of my mother's home and push my feet in the direction of the helicopter that'll be taking me to Duel Academy.

On the helicopter, I end up sitting in a seat across from Jaden and Syrus. "Hey Jaden, right?"

The brown-haired boy turns his head to face me, a smile on his face. "That's me. You're the kid with the Gem-Knights, right?"

"Yeah." I turn in my seat so that I can lean over the aisle so I'm closer to him. "Your Elemental Heroes are awesome. The way you used them in your duel was even more so."

"Thanks…" He lets out a small chuckle as he scratches the back of his head. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

I laugh in response, "no worries. Skye Fumatuso." My hand reaches out for him to shake.

"Attention new Duel Academy students: if you look outside your windows, you'll see your new home away from home." The pilot's voice breaks into our conversation. "Now, now, I know you're excited, but don't shove. Quite a sight, eh? Now then, fasten your seatbelts and set your seats back to an upright position. We're going into land. Next stop, Academy Island." Turning away from Jaden and the aisle I lock my seatbelt into place and follow the pilot's instructions for when we land.

When we land there are students in blue jackets handing out red, yellow, and blue jackets. When I make it to the front a short boy with blue hair, a similar color to Syrus' stands there. "Name?"

"Skye Fumatuso." He pulls out a piece of paper and scans the list for it before pulling out a red jacket.

"Slifer Slacker," I hear him murmur under his breath as he moves onto someone else, causing me to furrow my brows. Shrugging it off I move to what I presume is a classroom of sorts where we first-years seem to be meeting. I end up standing to the right of Syrus who is wearing a red jacket similar to mine. In front of us, the staff seems to be standing off to either side of a large screen with the Duel Academy logo. The logo is quickly replaced by a bald man with a wicked beard.

"Good morning and welcome, my students. I'm Chancellor Sheppard, the headmaster here, and you are the best and brightest young duelists in the world. Now please get yourselves settled in at your assigned dorms. I think you'll find them quite comfortable-Depending on how you ranked of course." After the Chancellor's message, I follow Jaden and Syrus outside the building and lean against the same statue they are, facing another one across the way.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but it looks like I'm in the Slifer Red Dorm," Jaden says looking at his PDA.

"That's cool, same with me," Syrus responds and I shake my head slightly.

"Guys, pretty sure that's what our jackets mean." My words are ignored as Bastion walks by wearing a yellow jacket.

"Hey, you in red, too?" Jaden questions the boy.

"Well now, let's see here, yellow sleeves, yellow buttons. I don't think so." Bastion explains sarcastically.

"So that's why we're in red," Jaden mutters.

"I literally just said that."

"Did you?" Syrus asks, seemingly confused. Bastion begins walking away as I throw a wave in his direction.

"See you 'round the dorms," Jaden calls to him.

"I doubt that. Your dorm's over there." Bastion throws his finger over his shoulder, pointing in the opposite direction of where he's going. I join Syrus and Jaden in the journey to our shared dorm and find a building near the cliff's edge that reminds me of cheap motels. Looks to be eight rooms in total and a small area of the building looks to be a cafeteria for us to eat in.

"This isn't a dorm." Syrus' voice from the second floor surprises me as I hadn't seen the two climb the stairs so I move to join them as my room is up there anyway. "It's like an outhouse with a deck."

"You kiddin' me?" Jaden argues, standing at the edge of the balcony staring out at the water. "Check out the view. This place is great." He then points to the first door, "this looks to be my room."

"Mine too," Syrus says.

"I'm next door I guess." Moving to the second door I send a smile their way, "see you guys later." My hand finds the door handle and suddenly I'm nervous about who my roommate(s) could be. Pushing through my nerves I open the door, narrowly avoiding a lamp rocketing towards my face. Looking in I see a kid with purple hair throwing stuff around the room.

"Where is it?" Deciding to risk it I step into the room and close the door, my bag on my shoulder.

"Hi, I'm Skye."

"Yuri." He looks up quickly to look at my face before flicking back to looking at everything in the room.

"What are you looking for?" I ask while taking my bag and throwing it on a bed that doesn't have anything on it currently, placing me on the bottom bunk.

"My card, I normally wouldn't care but I got it from a friend and promised to take care of it."

"Doesn't seem like it's in here," he looks like he's about to snap a response so I raise my hands. "Let's retrace your steps."

"I got off the copter, I ran into this short guy that was handing out jackets, my cards spilled out and I had to pick them up," he stops short. "The docks!" Then he's taking off out the door. Rolling my eyes I follow him. When I get there I see the kid who'd given me my jacket sitting at the edge of the docks looking at some sort of card as Yuri comes up behind him his eyes widen. "That's my card!"

The kid turns around slowly, his eyes giving off the vibe that he doesn't care. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Just give me my card back!"

"You're a Slifer, I'm an Obelisk. I don't have to do anything you say."

"What the hell are you talking about?" My voice comes out sharper than I'd intended but I don't take it back.

"Nobody's explained how things work? Slifers are at the bottom, Ras are in the middle, and Obelisks are at the top. Slifers are at the bottom because you're no better than trash." My eyes narrow at his elitist attitude and I unconsciously find myself placing my deck into my duel disk.

"If I'm trash then duel me for the card."

"Did you not listen to a word I said?" He sounds incredulous but I hate people that try to act like they're better than everyone else. If all Obelisks are like this then we might have problems.

"No, I just don't care. But, if you're as good as you say you are and I'm as bad as you say I am then let's prove it, right here and now."

"You guys can't duel over my card!"

"You're insane!" The Obelisk kid smiles, "but I'm always ready to put trash in its place."

"Sora!" A female voice behind me causes me to turn and I find a girl with dirty blonde hair, reaching to about her shoulder, blue eyes, wearing a sleeveless white jacket with blue coloring and a short skirt, which shows off her legs very clearly.

"Sis! You're just in time to see me mop the floor with this Slacker!" Sora explains and my eyes narrow, is she gonna prove that most Obelisks believe this?

"No, I'm just in time to tell you that you're late for the Obelisk welcome dinner." His smile falls and he begins to walk away.

"What about my card!?" Yuri calls after him and he ignores us and just keeps going.

"Sorry about him, he can be an asshole, trust me, I know." Yuri seems to be fuming and I can tell he wants to hit something so I steer him away from the pretty girl that helped us.

"He took my card!" She flinches as if it isn't the first time she's heard something like that.

"I'm sorry, but you've gotta get to the Slifer welcome dinner too. I'll try to talk him into giving you the card. I'm Celina by the way."

"Skye."

Recognition seems to hit her face as she gives off a nod. "You're that Gem-Knight duelist, right?"

"That's me."

"I'd heard your score on the written was pretty good, combined with your duel I figured you'd of been in Ra." She shrugs her shoulders slightly as she turns to walk away. She shoots an apologetic smile our way before disappearing the same way her brother went.

"If she can't get it back, I will Yuri, don't worry." Putting my hand on his shoulder I steer him back toward the Slifer dorm so that we can get ready for the dinner.

When we get to the cafeteria I bring Yuri over to Syrus and Jaden looking down at our tray. The food doesn't look the most appealing but I'm hungry and not that picky so I don't plan on holding back. Though I do hear several people complaining about the meal. My attention is brought to the front of the room before I can eat as some of these people actually seem to believe that the cat sitting in the front is our headmaster.

How'd half these people make it this far in life? Our headmaster reveals himself and takes a seat at the table at the other side of the cafeteria and despite my growling stomach, I wait to eat depending on what he has to say.

"Hello, children. I'm Professor Banner. Now before we eat, I'd like you each to tell us something about your-."

He doesn't get to continue as a voice to my left sounds and I close my eyes realizing what's happening "This stuff's good." Jaden's voice rings throughout the room and it's clear that everyone heard him as they're all looking at us now.

"We're supposed to say something about ourselves," Syrus says, obviously not liking the attention.

"Ok, how 'bout this?" Jaden begins talking, food still in his mouth. "I'm starvin'."

"He's walking over here, Jaden." Syrus' anxiety begins to show itself more. "I mean it, he's right-." I hadn't noticed it before but now Banner stands over our table now, looking down on Jaden, and I can't help but feel slightly intimidated.

"Well, since some of us don't feel like waiting, let's just eat." His words are like music to my ears and I begin digging into my food, it tastes much better than it looks and I can't find myself stopping after I've started. Eventually, I'm eating at Jaden's speed and though I know it's probably not healthy but I find myself wanting more.

"Are they related?" Yuri's voice registers in my ears but the food going into my mouth currently obscures my vision.

"No, they met this morning." Syrus' voice. "They're both good duelists though."

"I hope so," Yuri says and I feel his gaze on me.

After dinner, Yuri and my other roommate have laid down to sleep and I've turned most of the lights off but I have my deck sitting in front of me on my bed as Gem-Knight Lazuli appears across from me mimicking my position, our legs crossed like we're in kindergarten.

"_You've seemed to of made some good friends." _She gives me her opinion.

"A lot of these people are nice," I whisper so that I don't wake my roommates. "I was kinda worried about the Obelisk dorm but Celina seemed nice enough and I'm sure they can't all be jerks." Before she can respond my PDA goes off and I grab it to see what's up.

Sora appears on my screen when I check my messages. "Hey, wannabe. You want that card back? Meet me at the shore at midnight and we'll have that duel you wanted. Winner gets the card." I stand quickly and quietly, glad that I had yet to undress. I put my jacket over my black shirt, place my duel disk on my arm and lock my deck into place. Quietly making my way out the door.

Once I close the door I find Jaden and Syrus standing outside. "What are you doing?" All three of us ask at the same time.

"Going to a duel." Jaden and I answer at the same time.

"You both managed to get a duel at midnight?" Syrus questions, still trying to process what had just happened. "You're too similar."

"Nuh-uh!" We retort.

"This guy took my friend's card I've got to go get it back for him," I explain, really hoping Jaden hadn't said the same thing.

"I'm going to duel to decide who's going to be the future king of games!" Jaden explains proudly.

"Okay, good luck." We make our way down the stairs, thankfully nobody comes out to stop us. We walk silently together for a little ways until I split off to go down to the small beach-like area that I'm supposed to meet Sora.

When I get there Sora has a smug look on his face as he extends his hand to his sister as she puts something in his hand. "Thought you'd be smarter than this Skye." She says shaking her head.

"You guys bet on whether or not I'd show?" They both nod. "Sorry, but it wasn't a question. My friend wants the card you stole and this is my chance to get it back."

"Good luck," Celina says stepping to the side to watch the duel, her arms crossed over her chest, and I once again find myself wishing that she had more covering her legs.

"Winner gets to keep the card," Sora says as he places his deck in his duel disk. "Can't wait to put the trash in its place."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand/Sora: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand)**

"I'll take the first move!" Sora adds a card to his hand. "I activate the spell Upstart Goblin!" He then draws another card from his deck. "It allows me to draw a card as long as I increase your life points by 1000. Then I summon Fluffal Owl to the field in attack mode!" (Fluffal Owl 1000/1000) A small owl with cartoon-like glasses appears on the field. "When he's summoned from my hand I can add polymerization from my deck to my hand. Then I'll activate polymerization to fuze the Edge Imp Chain in my hand with the Fluffal Sheep in my hand to summon…" An adorable sheep along with a monster that looks sort of like a bike chain combine and out comes a sheep looking creature with chains and other metal parts. "Frightfur Sheep!" (Frightfur Sheep 2000/2000)

**(Skye: 5000 LP 5 Cards in Hand/Sora: 4000 LP 3 Cards in Hand)**

"Guess that means it's my turn." A smile appears on my face as I form a plan. "To start things off I activate Gem-Knight Fusion!" A spiral similar to that of Polymerization appears, "I fuze Gem-Knight Lapis with Gem-Knight Crystal to summon…" The knight in white with purple crystals covering different parts of its body jumps into the spiral followed by a small female knight with a single gem on its torso. "Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli!" A female wearing blue robe-looking armor with a single blue stone for a necklace appears. (Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli 2400/1000) "Then I activate her ability! By sending Gem-Knight Lazuli from my deck to the graveyard you take 500 points of damage for every monster on the field that was special summoned, meaning you take 1000 points of damage." (Sora: 4000-3000 LP)

I watch with a smug smile as his life points drop by 1000. "Since Gem-Knight Lazuli was sent to the graveyard because of a card effect I can add Gem-Knight Lapis back to my hand. Then I summon Alexandrite Dragon to the field!" A dragon coated in purple scales appears on the field. (Alexandrite Dragon 2000/100) "Alexandrite Dragon, attack her Fluffal Owl!" The dragon roars and the owl attempts to fly away only to be swatted out of the sky by the larger dragon, falling and hitting Sora before fading away. (Sora: 3000-2000 LP) "Lady Lapis, attack Frightfur Sheep!" Lady Lapis Lazuli sticks her hand outward and a blue gem flies from her hand through Frightfur Sheep, a smaller chunk colliding with Sora. (Sora: 2000-1600 LP)

"Nice try, but my Frightfur Sheep's ability makes it so that I can special summon him after he's destroyed and he gains 800 attack points." Frightfur Sheep reappears on the field. (Frightfur Sheep 2800/2000)

"I'll end my turn with a face-down." I put a dent in his life points but now he's got that monster out, I don't have much that can stand up to that strong a monster.

**(Skye: 5000 LP 2 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down/Sora: 1600 LP 3 Cards in Hand)**

"You're better than most Slifers, I'll give you that. But trash is still trash." He draws a card and smiles before playing the card. "I activate the spell Raigeki!" Lightning begins striking the ground in random locations. "With this spell, all monsters you control are destroyed." My monsters are struck by lightning simultaneously and the blast blinds me slightly for a moment. "Then I summon Fluffal Penguin to the field!" An adorable penguin with what seem to be earmuffs on appears next to Frightfur Sheep. (Fluffal Penguin 1600/1100) "Now, Frightfur Sheep attacks you directly!" The sheep charges forward only for a chain to shoot out and hit me in the chest. (Skye: 5000-2200) "Fluffal Penguin, your turn!" The penguin starts to run toward me before tripping and sliding across the ground, its head hitting my legs. (Skye: 2200-0600) "You can give up whenever nobody would judge you."

**(Skye: 0600 LP 2 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down/Sora: 1600 LP 2 Cards in Hand)**

"Wrong, I'd have to judge myself. I'm not the greatest duelist, people lay traps out for me all the time and I blindly walk through them. But I will never give up." I add a card to my hand, mentally cringing for my words.

"Wow." He slowly claps his hands together. "Real inspirational. You just called yourself a determined imbecile."

"I play Pot of Greed!" I draw two more cards and add them to my hand. Gem-Knight Lapis, Polymerization, Monster Reborn, and Gem-Knight Tourmaline. Seven Tools of the Bandit on my field, though he doesn't seem to be a fan of trap cards, not that I could pay the price anyway. "I play Polymerization and combine Gem-Knight Tourmaline with Gem-Knight Lapis to summon…" A knight with golden armor and bigger than previous knights shown with lightning sparking at its fingertips jumps into the spiral followed by Gem-Knight Lapis. "Gem-Knight Topaz!" A knight with blades held parallel to his forearms shaped like lightning bolts in orange armor with dark cape appears on the field. (Gem-Knight Topaz 1800/1800)

"Is that Skye?" Turning to the right I see Jaden and Syrus coming up to stand next to Celina to watch the duel.

"Yeah, my brother took his roommate's card. He's trying to get it back, that monster isn't strong enough to get past Frightfur Sheep though." Celina explains as I see Syrus begin to quake looking at the sheep.

"I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks now."

"I told you before it isn't too late to surrender now." Sora says again, "we could all go home and get some sleep before our classes tomorrow."

"We can cause this duel is over." Before anyone can question I shoot my hand forward. "Topaz, take care of his penguin! Thunder Surge!" Topaz is surrounded by lightning before pushing his feet into the ground and charging forward, his blades cutting through the penguin with ease. (Sora 1600-1400 LP)

"I told you, it wasn't enough." Sora taunts.

"I wasn't done, Topaz has a special ability when he destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the graveyard, you take damage equal to the destroyed monster's attack points."

"What?" Topaz extends one of his blades in Sora's direction before lightning rockets out of it, striking Sora, knocking him to the ground and ending the duel. (Sora 1400-0000)

"Great job, Skye!" Jaden and Syrus congratulate me but I put my focus on the prone form of my opponent.

"Deals a deal, where's the card?" He doesn't respond and just stares up into the sky, as if expecting it to hold the answer to a question only he knows. Celina walks over and grabs a box off of his belt and rifles through it until she finds a card and hands it to me. "Thanks."

"That was an amazing duel, I hope we get the chance to duel someday." Her eyes seem to survey my body and I feel my cheeks flush as I turn to face Jaden and Syrus.

"Are you okay Skye? Your face is kinda red." Jaden states while Syrus lets out a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, just ready to get some rest so I'm good for classes tomorrow," I explain starting the trek back to our dorm. Along the way, I find out that Jaden didn't actually get to finish his duel with Chazz, the Obelisk Blue guy he'd left to duel because we aren't supposed to be dueling off-hours, though he had a plan to win the duel in the last turn.

When I get back to my room my roommates are still sleeping so I put the card I'd won with his deck box and write a small note, 'told ya I'd get it back.' Then I change into my own clothes and lay down in my bed, ready to call my first day to an end.


	3. Chapter 3

When light found my eyes again it was to the sound of the alarm I'd set the night before. I turn it off quickly, my roommates not having the chance to wake them up this early. Classes don't start for two hours but I like to get a headstart on my day, despite the late night I had. Grabbing a pair of jeans, my shoes, a black sleeveless shirt, and my Slifer jacket I move toward the bathroom, ready to get a start to my day.

I finish getting myself ready after about fifteen minutes and after I dress myself and I jog to the shore where I dueled Sora last night. Not wanting to get my jacket dirty I hang it on a rock and begin to jog the length of the shore, doing my daily exercises so I can stay in shape. I arrive back to where I hung my jacket about an hour later and I stop to catch my breath, nearly jumping out of my skin when someone speaks up.

"I was wondering whose jacket this was." My eyes find Celina standing there with Alexis and a couple of Obelisk Girl students I've yet to meet.

"Hi," I move my eyes back and forth hoping that I didn't accidentally end up in the Obelisk Dorm area on accident. "W-what are you guys doing here?" I suddenly find myself self-conscious as I'd planned on taking a quick shower before talking to anyone this morning.

"Just exploring the island," Alexis says as one of the other girls picks up for her.

"We saw the jacket and thought one of you'd already dropped out."

"Sorry, but who are you?"

"I'm Mindy, that's Jasmine." As she points at her friend I can't help but shrink away as I feel that I'm underdressed suddenly.

"I better get ready for class," the three step aside and I move to grab my jacket from Celina's hand though her gaze locks onto mine and I feel paralyzed for a moment.

"Skye!" Yuri's voice shakes me from whatever spell I was under and I sprint in his direction. "What was that about?" He questions once I slow to walk back to our dorms at his side.

"I have no idea."

"Thanks." My brows furrow in confusion at his words.

"For what?"

"Getting my card back."

"It wasn't a problem," I slap my hand against his back. "Seriously. I promised I'd get it for you." He doesn't respond but I see a smile grow on his face.

My first class of the day is with Crowler, who has been glaring at me every so often all class. We're going over card types currently and Alexis has just answered one of his questions. "Well done, Alexis. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from one of my Blue Obelisks!"

"Yes, Dr. Crowler."

"Now, who should we question next?" His eyes move to the section of red jackets and his eyes land on Syrus, who sadly gets anxious when he has people's eyes on him so I already know how this is going to end. "You, Syrus Truesdale!" He stands to attention just in front of me, clearly shaking. "Explain to the class what a field spell is, please."

"Um. A field spell is, uh, it's the… Thing that affects the thing that is, uh…" A boy in the back interrupted him making his anxiety worse than it was.

"Even pre-duelers know the answer to this, you Slifer slacker!" Laughter followed causing him to tense up further and my fists clenched underneath the table and I had to breath in and out attempting to calm myself.

"No, I know!" Syrus attempts to redeem himself in the eyes of his peers, "it's uh, uh…"

"Relax, Sy," Jaden says from his side. "You totally got this."

"I think not." Crowler interrupts. "Sit down." Syrus retakes his seat, his head hung dejectedly. "Now would someone please give me the answer- Preferably someone not wearing red, thank you." The room is swallowed in laughter again and I'm ready to challenge Crowler to a duel myself when Syrus speaks again.

"I blew it. I've made all the slifers look bad."

"You know something, teach…" Jaden speaks up. "You really shouldn't go and make fun of us Slifers like that. I mean I'm a Slifer, and I beat you. So, when you make fun of us, you're really making fun of yourself!" Crowler puts some sort of fabric in his mouth and the Slifers around us began laughing and I feel myself standing up.

"Doctor Crowler, sir. I know you said us Slifers couldn't answer your question, but I just wanted to say what Syrus was trying to say before you and the other students interrupted him. A field spell is a sort of continuous spell that changes the surrounding field and has a certain effect on monsters, spells, or traps. An example of this is the card Jaden used to beat you, Skyscraper. That card increased the attack of his Elemental Hero by a thousand points." The glares that Crowler has been sending my way all class no longer seem subtle as his eyes tighten and I can't help but smile and look at the students around me, a pair of blue eyes causing me to halt my moving gaze before I retake my seat.

My next class is with Professor Banner and despite his calm and laidback exterior, I'm more than ready to learn what I can from him. "So, as some of you students know, my name is Professor Lyman Banner. I specialize in some of the lesser-known tactics and strategies in the world of duel monsters-some that a few might even consider to be unnatural-Duel Alchemy, for example." Banner continues talking but Syrus, from the other side of Jaden, who sits on my right, breaks my concentration.

"Oh, by the way, thanks, Jaden."

"Sure. No prob." I can't help but snicker as Jaden seems like he didn't get much sleep at all last night. "For what?"

"Sticking up for me," Syrus exclaims louder than his original statement.

"Uh-oh." At Jaden's words, I look to the front and see that Banner is looking in our direction. "I'm thinking I might have to do it again in a second."

"Syrus!" Banner calls causing Syrus to stand up, his body stiff again.

"Do me a favor and grab Pharaoh, would you?"

"Uh...Pharaoh?"

"Unless you are minoring as a scratch post." Syrus still seems confused and I look to Yuri on the other side of Syrus who points below the table and I see Banner's cat rubbing his face against Syrus' leg.

After classes, I sit on the floor of my dorm room looking through my cards as Yuri sits on his top bunk looking doing something that I can't see. Lapis and Lazuli float at my side watching as I dig through the deck. I spend about an hour going through my deck before I put them away and decide to get a whiff of fresh air.

After I close my door and step up to the railing I see a flash of red in the distance making its way to a rowboat. Deciding I've got nothing better to do I run after it, I seem to be faster thankfully making it before they make it on the boat, I jump over as it pushes off. Just barely landing I hear a familiar voice gasp in surprise.

Looking down I see Jaden sitting by the oars. "What the hell are you doing?" I whisper out not wanting to get caught for whatever it is we're doing.

"I got a message on my PDA saying that somebody has Syrus at the girls' dorm. They said I had to come alone to get him." Jaden explains, already moving in that direction.

"Fat chance I'm leaving." We sit in silence as I let Jaden push the oars to our new location and when we step out I don't know whether to feel relief or not upon seeing that the people holding Syrus are the four girls I'd run into this morning.

"Hi, Jaden," Syrus says before noticing me stepping off the boat. "Skye."

"Hey." Jaden starts calmly.

"Does somebody want to explain why the hell Jaden had to come out here in the middle of the night?"

"Well uh," Syrus starts. "To make a long story short…I'm basically a big loser."

"You were supposed to come alone Jaden," Jasmine states, eyeing me.

"Your friend here trespassed into the girl's campus!" Mindy answers my question.

"Is that true, Sy?" Jaden asks for confirmation.

"Hey, it's not like that!"

"And now that you two are here, you're trespassing, too!" Celina explains, she seems to come to a realization before Alexis cuts her off.

"That's right, so if you don't want us to turn you in, you're gonna have to win your freedom by beating me in a duel right now!"

"But if you turn us in, we'll be expelled!" Syrus exclaims, Jasmine and Mindy glaring at him, only then do I notice that they actually have his hands bound.

"Don't worry, Sy, I won't let that happen!" Jaden says, a look of determination on his face. "Now, let's duel, Alexis!"

"Is that damn rope really necessary?" I snap, my anger from everything that's happened to Syrus today finally boiling over.

"Let me handle the unexpected guest," Celina says to Alexis who furrows her brows in confusion before nodding. "You and I are going to duel Skye. Because when Alexis beats Jaden I won't be able to do this, and after you beat my brother I really want to test you myself."

"I'm not going anywhere until you get rid of the rope!" I can feel my heartbeat increase, Gem-Knight Garnet's voice echoing in my head. "He's not an animal!"

Alexis nods to her other friends who roll their eyes before undoing the rope and shoving Syrus down the stairs and I manage to catch his small frame in my arms and he gives me a small 'thanks' before moving to stand by Jaden's side. "Follow us Jaden."

"Come with me, Skye." Celina leads me to a secluded area where it seems like we won't be caught since apparently, the duel I had with Sora was against school policy. She stops moving and stands a little ways away from me, placing her duel disk on her arm. "Let's do this."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand/Celina: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand)**

"I'll go first!" I add a card to my hand. "I use polymerization to fuze the Gem-Knight Garnet and Gem-Knight Amber in my hand to summon…"A knight in red armor jumps into the spiral followed by a knight in yellow armor with daggers of lightning. "Gem-Knight Ruby!" A monster in red armor and blue cape appears wielding a red scythe-like weapon. (Gem-Knight Ruby 2500/1300) "I end my turn with two face-downs."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 1 Card in Hand 2 Face-Downs/Celina: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand)**

"Pulling out that monster on your first turn?" I know she doesn't deserve the anger I'm projecting but it's pulsing through my veins, almost as if something's amplifying it.

"You tied him up like an animal! He's already been shit on all day and you have to make it worse?"

"What's up with you?"

"_You have to calm down, you're channeling Garnet's unstable emotions."_ Looking up I see that Ruby is looking at me and I take in a deep breath before nodding.

"Sorry. Things have just been crazy today."

"Well get your head on straight. It's time for me to beat you." She places a card in her duel disk. "I activate Lunalight Fusion!" A spiral is created of a blue and purple trail. "Since you control a monster that was summoned from the extra deck I get to use a Lunalight monster in mine to fusion summon. I combine the Lunalight Purple Butterfly in my hand with the Lunalight Cat Dancer in my extra deck to summon…" A panther wearing a sort of dress with blades on her shoulders and rings around her wrists appears on the field. (Lunalight Panther Dancer 2800/2500) "Then I activate her ability so that the first time this turn any of your monsters would be destroyed by battle it isn't, and Panther Dancer can attack each monster twice!" She rushes forward and I activate my face-down.

"Negate Attack!" An invisible shield appears in front of Ruby in time to stop Panther Dancer. "This trap stops your attack and ends your battle phase," I explain.

"Your move."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 1 Card in Hand 1 Face-Down/Celina: 4000 LP 4 Cards in Hand)**

Gem-Knight Tourmaline and King of the Swamp. "I summon Gem-Knight Tourmaline!" A buff knight wearing yellow armor with lightning crackling at its fingertips appears on the field. (Gem-Knight Tourmaline 1600/1800) "Then I activate Ruby's ability!" Ruby looks back to Tourmaline who gives a brief nod as the back-end of the scythe penetrates his gem and his electricity transfers to the staff before he fades away. "By tributing a Gem- monster on my field he gains the monster's attack points until the end of the turn." (Gem-Knight Ruby 2500-4100) "Ruby, crush Panther Dancer!" Ruby rushes forward, fire and lightning overcome the scythe as it comes into contact with Panther Dancer before she shatters. (Celina 4000-2700) "Since that's the end of my turn Ruby's attack points return to normal."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 1 Card in Hand 1 Face-Down/Celina: 2700 LP 4 Cards in Hand)**

"I draw!" She smiles before placing a card in her deck. "Pot of Greed!" She adds another two cards to her hand. She looks at my field before turning back to her hand, planning some sort of strategy. "I summon Lunalight Yellow Marten to the field in Defense mode!" A yellow creature wearing a short dress appears on the field, kneeling her arms crossed in front of her. (Lunalight Yellow Marten 800/2000) "Then I place two cards face-down."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 1 Card in Hand 1 Face-Down/Celina: 2700 LP 3 Cards in Hand 2 Face-Downs)**

"I draw!" Magic Jammer. "Ruby, destroy her Marten!" Ruby rushes forward Scythe raised to strike when Celina presses a button on her duel disk.

"Draining Shield! This card stops your monsters attack and gives me life points equal to your monsters attack points." She explains.

"Seven Tools of the Bandit!" (Skye 4000-3000) "By sacrificing 1000 life points I can negate the activation of your trap card and destroy it!" Ruby continues her attack, the shield created by Draining Shield shattering.

"Storming Mirror Force!" Another shield appears, this one shooting a beam through Ruby's chest. "When your monster attacks I can stop it and return it to your hand, or in Ruby's case the Extra Deck." Ruby disappears from the field as I place his card back into my extra deck.

"I summon King of the Swamp in defense mode!" A creature made of swamp water comes up from the ground. (King of the Swamp 0500/1100) "I end my turn with a face-down.

**(Skye: 3000 LP 0 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down/Celina: 2700 LP 3 Cards in Hand)**

"Draw!" She adds another card to her hand. "I summon Lunalight Crimson Fox." A fox-like creature wearing similar clothing to Yellow Marten with more reds and pinks appears. (Lunalight Crimson Fox 1800/0600) "I activate Fusion Substitute combining the two on my field to summon…" a spiral appears pulling the two monsters on the field into it. "Lunalight Cat Dancer!" A pink-skinned creature appears wearing a dress with greens and red with a mask covering her face and carrying two daggers. (Lunalight Cat Dancer 2400/2000) "Cat Dancer attack his King of the Swamp!" Cat Dancer leaps into the air preparing to attack when I feel a small pain. (Skye 3000-2900) "Did I forget to mention that when Cat Dancer declares an attack you take 100 points of damage?"

Cat Dancer plunges herself into the King of the Swamp and destroys it from the inside coming out in a graceful spin before leaping in the air and landing on her side of the field.

**(Skye: 2900 LP 0 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down/Celina: 2700 LP 2 Cards in Hand)**

Gritting my teeth I place my hand on the top of my deck, there's got to be something in my deck that can get me out of this situation. "This draw decides the duel, you know that, right?" Celina sends a smile in my direction that causes my cheeks to flush before I remember what's going on. "That's why I love dueling so much. Every time you draw a card it can change the outcome. If you don't draw something this turn then I could win the next turn. Maybe you keep yourself alive but then I draw something to counter it and I still win next turn."

Her attitude is infectious and all the anger I'd been feeling all duel disappeared. "No matter the outcome, you're a great duelist. I hope once we get past the whole Jaden and I beating you and your friend we can become friends."

"You're so sure Jaden's going to win? You haven't seen Alexis duel."

"No. But I've seen Jaden duel, and I've felt his spirit. He's got determination like no other." I draw and look at the card I drew, my smile growing more. "Pot of Greed," I add two new cards to my hand. Gem-Turtle and Gem-Knight Crystal. "I place a monster in face-down defense mode and end my turn."

**(Skye: 2900 LP 1 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down/Celina: 2700 LP 2 Cards in Hand)**

"That was the big move that's gonna turn the duel around?" She adds a card to her hand. "I summon The All-Seeing White Tiger in attack mode!" A white tiger appears on the field. (The All-Seeing White Tiger 1300/0500) "Cat Dancer, attack his monster!" Cat Dancer leaps in the air and I feel a small pain again. (Skye 2900-2800) Once Cat Dancer gets close to my monster it's revealed to be Gem-Turtle, a turtle with an emerald for a shell and in several other locations on its body.

"Since you flipped my Gem-Turtle you've activated his ability! I get to add a Gem-Knight Fusion card to my hand from my deck." My deck gives me said card and I place it in my hand.

"Your turtle is still destroyed!" On cue, my turtle shatters and I place the card into the graveyard. "Plus, my Tiger still gets to attack you directly!" Her tiger charges across the field and cuts me with its claws. (Skye 2800-1500)

**(Skye: 1500 LP 2 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down/Celina: 2700 LP 2 Cards in Hand)**

I can only think of one way to win this duel. I have to draw Lapis. "Draw!" I'm afraid to see what card I drew so I stood there stupidly for a minute, the card I just drew extended away from my body. Eventually, the anxiety gets to be too much and I look. "I activate Gem-Knight Fusion to combine the Gem-Knight Crystal with Gem-Knight Lapis in my hand to summon…" A knight in white with purple crystals coating different parts of his armor jumps in the spiral followed by a smaller knight wearing what looks to be a set of armor with a dress over top. "Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli!" A woman wearing armor shaped like a dress in blue with a large blue gem as a necklace appears on the field. (Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli 2400/1000) "With her ability, I can send a Gem-Knight monster from my deck or extra deck to the graveyard to inflict damage to you once per turn. I choose Gem-Knight Ruby." (Celina 2700-1700) "Lady Lapis, attack her All-Seeing White Tiger!" Lady Lapis walks glides towards the tiger and smacks her hand against its back before throwing it at Celina as it disappears. (Celina 1700-0600)

**(Skye: 1500 LP 0 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down/Celina: 0600 LP 2 Cards in Hand)**

She draws, barely sparing the card a glance before ordering Cat Dancer to attack Lady Lapis. "What are you doing? They have the same attack points." (Skye 1500-1400) Our monsters collide, Cat Dancer stabbing Lady Lapis in the side with a dagger only for Lady Lapis to attempt to attack with her other palm and it is deflected by Cat Dancer.

"Did I forget to mention Cat Dancer can't be destroyed in battle?" She throws a smile my way before looking back to her hand. "I'll play a Face-Down and end my turn."

**(Skye: 1400 LP 0 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down/Celina: 0600 LP 2 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down)**

I draw a card and look at it, a smile making its way to my face. "This has been a great duel, but it's over now. I activate Monster Reborn to bring back Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli." My monster that was destroyed moments ago reappears on the field. (Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli 2400/1000) "Using her ability I send Gem-Knight Alexandrite from my deck to the graveyard, meaning you take 1000 points of damage." (Celina 0600-0000)

The hologram monsters disappear and I send a silent thank you to my monsters, and a promise to talk to Lapis about what Ruby said about me channeling Garnet's emotions. Celina collapses to her knees, face toward the ground and I rush over to her side attempting to help her up. She looks up at me and I send a smile to her. "That was by far, one of the hardest duels I've ever had."

"Thanks for dueling with me. I doubt your friend beat Alexis though." She leads me back toward where we'd left our friends.

"Bet you lunch Jaden wins or has won the duel."

"L-lunch?"

"Yeah, that meal that we eat during the day." When we get back I see a giant of a man shooting lightning at Alexis before disappearing. "Looks like you owe me lunch."

"G-guess so." She responds and we watch as the boys and girls row back to us.

"Hey Skye, how'd your duel go?"

"I get a free lunch now."

"How'd you spin that?" Jaden asks, seemingly jealous of it.

"I bet Celina that you'd beat Alexis," I answer matter-of-fact, a smug smirk on my face.

"You mean my dueling skills got you free lunch?" He continues incredulously.

"I dueled pretty well too!" I counter.

"How'd it go, Celina?" I hear Alexis ask as Syrus tries to console Jaden over the fact that he didn't get a lunch of his own.

"He beat me."

"You both lost?" Mindy asks, surprise evident in her voice. I join Jaden and Syrus in the boat as the girls come to stand at the edge of the boat.

Jaden seems to have gotten over the lunch fiasco now, "well, a deals a deal. I won, so we get off free!"  
"Ok, guys, I won't back out," Alexis says despite the fact that Mindy and Jasmine don't look happy and Celina is avoiding looking at me for some reason. "We'll keep quiet about what happened tonight."

"Well, if you ask me, I think we should turn all of them in right now!" Mindy gives her opinion before being put in her place by Celina.

"No one asked you!"

"Jaden beat me in the duel fair and square, and that's all there is to it."

"Well, there's more to it than that!" Jaden cuts in. "It was close! Yeah. You got game. Later!"

"Jaden's rowing home!" I say taking a seat in the back and closing my eyes so that I can get some sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I just wanted to say that my sister is a big RPer and she suggested when I create an OC to use a faceclaim from something and I decided to reveal my face claims for mine. Skye's Joachim from the webtoon Showdown, Celina's Juri Yoon from the webtoon No Scope, Yuri's is Yuri from Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V, and Sora's is Sora from Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V.**

It's been a few weeks at Duel Academy now and Yuri and I's roommate dropped out at some point in time. Crowler's subtle glares my way have continued, my grades are pretty good, I've even helped Yuri improve his grades. It helps that sometimes I study with Celina. Speaking of Celina the day after the incident at the girls' dorm she bought me lunch and the other students have been sending glares my way pretty much daily.

After my anger got the better of me I spoke with Lapis and Lazuli and they told me that sometimes when my emotions are in tune with those of a Gem-Knight their emotions can fuel mine making my responses work. Garnet's anger is one of the more volatile and that happened to be what I'd been channeling. They told me that different people have different connections to their spirits, some are just able to talk to those they have connections too, some can speak with all cards, some can even bring the spirits to the physical plane. I'm like a conduit for them.

I still get up most mornings and jog along the shore, thankfully no one's accosted me since the first day and I'm extremely thankful for that. I met Jaden's roommate Chumley and while at first glance he didn't seem like much of a duelist he had to be here for a reason and I was excited to see what he could do.

Exams are tomorrow and while I've been assured by my friends that I'll be fine, I want to make sure I do good so I have good news for my mother when she comes up for parents weekend. As such I promised myself no duels today which causes the first of a series of problems I have to face the next couple of days, it started when Yuri and I were on our way to meet up with Syrus to do some studying during lunch…

"What is a spell that stays on the field called?" Yuri reads off of a flashcard as we walk through the hallways.

"A continuous spell." Taking a look down to my flashcard I ask him another question, "how many Harpie sisters are there?"

"Uh…" I turn my head to face him as we keep walking, hearing a "three," at the same time that he collides with a kid in blue, the both of them falling to the ground, his flashcards scattering across the floor. "I'm so sorry!" He states quickly as he gets up and tries to gather his flashcards up.

Extending my hand to the guy in blue he smacks it away, aggression in his voice, "watch what you're doing Slifer slackers!" My eyes study him as he stands up, his hair a messy black, eyes a dark onyx. Then, as Yuri begins to stand up he kicks the flashcards from his grasp, smiling as they rescatter across the floor, Yuri quick to try and clean them up again.

"What the hell's your problem!?" I step in between the kid and Yuri. "He said sorry, and there was clearly fault on both sides!"

"You're Slifers, you should've gotten out of _my _way!" I feel my face scrunch up as I snarl, another elite, I'd been hoping Sora had been the only one.

"Just who the hell do you think you are?"

"Chazz Princeton," he takes a step forward, trying to seem menacing, "now get out of my way." I don't move from my spot and his smirk disappears. "Are we gonna have a problem?" Only then do I notice the people that have gathered around us, Yuri having joined the rest of the crowd.

Some people split the crowd and out of the corner of my eye I see Jaden, Syrus, and Alexis, from another portion of the crowd Sora and Celina step out. "He's not worth it Chazz," Sora states, eyes narrowing on my form.

Celina and Jaden step in front of me, "let's just go."

"You promised you wouldn't duel today, remember?" Celina reminds and I force a nod out before stepping out of Chazz's way. The crowd dejectedly disperses and Chazz and Sora glare at me as they walk away. At some point, Yuri joined the rest of my friends and he's looking to the ground, not making eye contact with me.

"Skye-," he starts before I interrupt him.

"It's fine." My voice comes out sharper than I'd intended and while I feel bad I move toward the cafeteria, studying temporarily forgotten. As I eat lunch, my friends sit around me and I can't help but zone out of their conversation, the want for a duel to relieve myself of the earlier tension present in my mind.

"_You must calm yourself, Skye,"_ Lapis states and I try to find some sort of solace in her words and voice but fail.

Later, after classes are out for the day I'm still agitated with Yuri for ditching me and I don't feel like going back to my dorm just yet so I decided to wander around campus for a while. Naturally, my luck holds up as I run headfirst into Doctor Crowler, who happened to be carrying several papers.

He must've seen my jacket before he saw me because I hear him mutter the words, "stupid Slifer slacker." Under his breath, before he stands up and looks at me. "Oh, it's you."

"Yeah, it's me." My response is curt and while I should probably watch what I'm saying to my teacher my agitation levels are too high.

His face seems to scrunch up in disgust before he catches himself, "good luck with your exams." The words looked like they were poison from his mouth but the fact that he said them at all has me too stunned to say anything as he disappears from my sight.

I walk around for about an hour before I'm quickly bored and decide to take a look in the forest. Naturally, I end up lost. The sun is quick to fall and in typical horror movie fashion, I see what looks like an abandoned house. The walls are bland and the building looks like the weather has chipped away at it.

Just looking at it sends shivers down my spine. Thankfully, I see a board with a sort of map on it and I read the directions back to campus. When I get back to campus it's pretty simple to get back to my dorm. By the time I get back I see candlelight through the window into Syrus and Jaden's dorm room, the lights out in my room.

The creak of the door seems especially loud as I push on it in an attempt not to wake Yuri up. I cooled off while I'd been lost and I know that I was being kinda unreasonable but only as the door clicks closed do I realize that I'd completely forgotten about studying.

Making my way over to the desk on the other side of the room from my bed I light a candle and pull out my flashcards and look over them. Staying up well into the night getting ready for my exams tomorrow…

"Skye," a voice registers in my head but my tired and unrested eyes fight against it, my throat managing to push out a grunt of sorts. "You need to get up or you're going to be late." My consciousness fades out again and when it returns I get up and make to get ready, showering, putting my clothes on. It's about the time that I'm putting my jacket on that I realize I'm running late.

Full-on sprinting toward the academy I can't help but think, 'at this point, Jaden'll beat me.' Speak of the devil, I barely notice a red jacket at the back of a van and a woman in a pink blouse and blue overalls pushing from the door on the right side, stopping just ahead of it I turn and open the left door so that I can assist.

"Oh, hey Skye." I hear Jaden grunt out from his position. Then the woman pushing at the front looks through the front seat to meet my gaze.

"Such generous students we have this year." She states as we push the van to the academy.

As soon as we get the van to the place the lady instructed us I wave a quick good-bye before I'm sprinting to the room we're supposed to take the written part of our exams. I'm probably about fifteen minutes late when I enter the room, I open the door louder than I'd intended and while several people decide to focus on their exams so they can get a good grade several other heads shoot up to the commotion. Moving toward the front I see Celina, Yuri, and Alexis give me seemingly sympathetic looks, Chazz seems to have issues keeping in a laugh while Sora sends a glare my way.

As I make my way to Banner in the front of the room to retrieve my exam I notice that Syrus seems to be asleep and mumbling things he'd studied in his sleep. "I'm so sorry Professor," I say quite enough to hopefully not disturb the other students around me.

"Here's your test Skye." He places a paper in my hand and nods toward an empty seat in the middle, confusing me as usually, the Slifers are in the front, not the Ra's. Nodding I move into my place, right as Jaden walks through the door and makes his way to Syrus' side.

"I didn't know this was an Oral Exam, Syrus." Choosing to focus on my test I begin writing in my answers until Chazz's obnoxious voice fills my ears from above.

"You two wanna keep it down!?" The grip on my pencil tightens but otherwise, I don't give a response. I'm already fifteen minutes behind the rest of the group and this is my first exam of the year. "Some of us plan to pass this test."

Naturally, Jaden is quick on the response, "hey, I always plan on passin'. It just doesn't always work out that way."

Thankfully, Banner noticed the commotion as well. "Oh, Jaden! Why don't you come down here and get your exam?"

"Be there in a jiff!" I finish the exam in about half an hour, giving me an extra fifteen minutes. That I naturally decide to use to catch up on sleep. My head shoots up when several shouts fill my ears and looking around I see the other students have mostly cleared up except for Bastion, Jaden, and Syrus. Bastion seems to be waking up the other two and I figure he's my best bet to figure out what the hell's going on.

I make it to their seats as Syrus shoots up from his position, letting out a small scream in the process. "Aw, I flunked, didn't I? I'm a complete failure!"

"Sy, if they were gradin' on melodrama, you'd get an 'A.'" Jaden lifts his head slightly to add to the conversation.

"I'm sure you did fine Sy," I add, announcing my presence to the boys.

"Hey, Skye." He responds before looking around the room and noticing the lack of people. "Hey, where'd everyone go?"

"I came up here hoping Bastion could tell me why the class left the room shouting." I let out from my position behind Jaden.

"That's what I was trying to tell them," he gestures with his head to the other two boys. "The new rare cards arrived today. Everyone is at the card shack."

Syrus, to his nature from what I can tell, has another freakout, "what!? New cards!? Hey, how come no one told us!?"

"Because everyone wants the best cards for themselves to use in the upcoming field test." Bastion explains, a confident smirk on his face.

"So why aren't you getting some?" Sy continues his questions.

"Please. One errant card and my deck's delicate balance would be completely thrown off."

"Mine wouldn't!" Sy turns to face Jaden and me.

"So let's go!" Jaden declares before turning to his childish self again. "There's nothing like the smell A' new cards in the mornin'!" He begins running past me, Syrus on his tale. "Thanks for the tip, Bastion!"

"I'm gonna go with them," I say to Bastion who gives me a nod. "I wonder if they have any new Gem cards I could add to my deck," I mutter the second part to myself as I run after Jaden and Syrus, catching up to them relatively quickly.

"Come on you two!" Jaden says as we round the corner leading to the card shack. "Huh? We gotta get in...line?"

"What's with the…" I trail off seeing that the shack looks pretty vacant, this isn't my first time here. In fact, I've come here often the past few weeks just to see if anything on my Gem monsters has been released, nothing ever came though. It's never been this empty though.

"Where is everyone?" Syrus questions. "They couldn't have…"

"Run out of cards already!?" The two look to face each other, the fact that Jaden decided to finish Syrus' sentence making me snicker slightly.

He then runs to the front of the shop to the counter where I see Sam working. "Scuse me, counter girl?" She turns to him with a slight glare on her features, nothing gets on her nerves more than that. "You still have some cards left, right?"

Her features soften slightly before she speaks again, "of course we have some left. Just regular packs, though." I feel bad when all she slides across the table is a single pack. "Here you go." The boys in front of me have a minor freakout and only then do I realize I'm still standing in the doorway of the shop.

"I'm done for." Syrus seems to be having a really bad day and a frown makes its way onto my face. Poor kid. "I slept through my written test. Now I'm going to flunk my duel test cuz I can't upgrade my deck!"

"So take the pack, Syrus," Jaden says without hesitation and my smile returns, this kid's kindness is something to aspire to.

"Really? You'd give me the last pack that they have?" Syrus asks for confirmation as if Jaden 'll change his mind.

"It's cool!"

"But what about you? And Skye?" He turns to see me still standing in the doorway and I wave, Sam now noticing me and giving a slight wave in response. "You slept through the written test, too." I decide to join them at the counter then. "I mean, what if-."

"What if what?" Jaden asks, confusion written on his features.

"You fail!"

"No way, Sy." A smile retakes Jaden's face. "I may flunk now and then, but I never fail!" He declares to my utter confusion.

"Jaden, I don't think that means what you think it-."

"Yoo-Hoo! Auto Club!" I turn to see the woman Jaden and I had helped this morning.

"Hi," I state, only now realizing that I'd missed the fact that she'd been wearing the same uniform as Sam, just chalk it up to lack of sleep I guess.

"Hey! You work here, too?" Jaden asks.

"Oh, no, I don't work here. I own here! Cool, huh!?" She winks for some reason while pointing at her eye and I furrow my brows in confusion.

"Nah, that's not cool. That's totally sweet!" Jaden exclaims excitedly.

"How do you know her, Jay?"

"It was probably the carburetor," I say feeling bad that I helped push and then left without helping figure out the problem. "I can help look at it if you want, my uncle's a mechanic so I know a few things." I offer to her.

"I'd appreciate that." She says before she seems to remember something. "Here, I have something for you." She lets out a giggle before explaining. "Just call it a 'thank you' for helping me. Though I only managed to get one." She shows us a card that she managed to grab from the new rare cards which seems to spark something with Sam.

"Skye," she grabs my shoulder as she pulls me to the other side of the counter. Reaching under she pulls something out, to the confusion of her boss. "I hope it's okay Ms. Dorothy, this guy helps me out sometimes when some of the students get riled up and he's always looking for these 'Gem?'" She looks at me to confirm that's right to which I nod, "cards. And in the new rare card shipment, I saw one." She places it in my hand. "I hope it'll help out your deck."

"This should help a lot!" I say looking at the card. "Thanks a lot, Sam."

_Meanwhile…_

Chazz and his goons are walking through the hallway, the goons explaining the loss of all the rare cards. A man in a long coat and hat hides on the stairs, waiting for them to come closer. Sora is walking from the opposite direction, a lollipop in his mouth. Chazz stops moving and turns to snap at his tools.

"You know what's 'sorry?'" He starts. "You guys, that's what, but it doesn't matter cuz not one duelist here can beat me, no matter what card he has."

The man in the long coat takes this as his cue to reveal himself. "Unless that duelist happens to be Jaden Yuki." Sora, having noticed the commotion stops moving and stands there, hands in his pocket as he sucks on the lollipop in his mouth.

"Who's there!?" Chazz snaps out to, not having seen the man yet.

"Someone who suspects you despise Jaden as much as I do."

"That's the sticky fingers who took the rare cards!" One of the tools shouts out, Sora smiles, 'these guys are idiots. The voice is obviously Crowlers.'

"Cards? What cards? Oh, do you mean these cards?" Crowler opens his coat revealing the cards within.

"Oh, now dat's style!" Chazz's other goon declares in awe.

"Talk about havin' a card up your sleeve." His other goon continues, in as much awe as his counterpart.

Crowler begins laughing. "What's the matter, Chazz? Don't recognize me? How about now?" He then makes a dramatic attempt to reveal himself causing the three boys to shout out in surprise and Sora to take a large chunk out of the lollipop in his mouth, revealing his presence.

"You know, you looked better all covered up," Chazz says before turning to Sora who moves to stand at their side.

Crowler seems to stumble over himself for a second before brushing Chazz's words off. "Yes. Well, I have a plan that will make us all look better and make Jaden Yuki look like the cut-rate duelist he truly is. I want you to be his opponent for his field test and to use these rare cards to beat him." Crowler gestures to Chazz.

"But we're not in the same dorm! They won't let me be his test opponent." Chazz states not truly understanding who he's talking to.

"Chazz, who do you think decides these things?" Sora cuts in. "I won't say anything about this Crowler, on one condition." Crowler is ready to try and counter his blackmailer before Sora reveals what he wants. "I want you to make me Skye Fumatuso's opponent. I don't want any of your stupid cards though."

Crowler smiles a creepy smile. "Done." With a plan in mind, Sora walks away, pulling some form of candy from his pocket and lobbing it into his mouth. "You," he points to Chazz. "Make sure to put all of these rare cards to use in putting Jaden in his place in front of the entire academy!" Crowler lets out a sinister laugh as the three Obelisks walk away, questioning the sanity of their teacher.

I sat with my friends in the stadium to wait for my duel test, shuffling the card Sam gave me into my deck I hope I get the chance to use it in my duel. Once I put the deck back into its place on my belt I look up and see that Jaden is standing across from Chazz. I turn to Syrus for an explanation.

"I thought since we were Slifers we only dueled other Slifers for this." Bastion looks at me from the other side of Syrus.

"Crowler's had it out for Jaden since he beat him in the preliminaries, this was obviously set up and Jaden just walked right into a trap." Bastion seems exasperated but I can't help but chuckle.

"Why would Jaden walk away from a duel, odds stacked against him or not?" My friends don't give me a response as we turn to watch the duel.

Jaden's duel comes to an end eventually, him just barely pulling out a win against Chazz. I make move to congratulate him with Syrus and Bastion. "Hey, Jaden!"

"That was well-played, Jaden." Chancellor Shepard's voice rings through the stadium from his box. "Not in the history of our revered academy has a Slifer ever dueled an Obelisk during these exams. Jaden, not only did you hold your own, but you won. Your courage against overwhelming odds is inspiring. It is with great pride that I grant you promotion to Ra Yellow. Good Job!"

"Ra Yellow!?" Syrus is the first to speak. "You're the best, Jaden!"

"I do what I can."

"Good show, Jaden." Bastion congratulates. "Allow me to be the first to welcome you to the Ra Dorm."

"Thanks." Jaden and Bastion shake hands and I clap my hand against his back.

"Great duel man. Makes me feel like I'm going to underwhelm everyone now." I mutter the second part under my breath.

"Nah, you'll do great." He then seems to think for a moment. "I actually don't think I've seen you duel since the preliminaries now that I think about it."

"Next up, can we have Skye Fumatuso and Sora Obsidian on field 4?" A voice rings out and my eyes widen slightly.

"Why the hell am I dueling Sora?"

"Sora?" Jaden looks to me with questioning eyes. My gaze finds Sora walking down the stairs with a stick in his mouth. Jaden follows my gaze. "You're going against an Obelisk too?"

"That's the asshole that took Yuri's card," I state my feet already moving me toward field 4, standing across from him.

"What's Crowler's game?" I ask as I hand him my deck to shuffle and he does the same.

"I guess he just doesn't really like you." Sora shrugs his shoulders, taking a lollipop out of his mouth. "Besides, I've been looking forward to this."

"I need this duel, so let's get started," I say moving to my side of the field.

**(Skye: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand/Sora: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand)**

"I'll take the first move," I add a card to my hand. "I summon Gem-Knight Lapis to the field in attack mode!" A small knight wearing white and dark purple armor shaped almost like a dress appears on the field. (Gem-Knight Lapis 1200/0100) "I'll end my turn with a face-down!"

**(Skye: 4000 LP 4 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down/Sora: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand)**

"A pretty basic move," he says as he adds a card to his hand. "Polymerization!" He declares as the familiar spiral appears. "I combine the Fluffal Cat and Edge Imp Chain in my hand to fusion summon…" A small purple cat with wings flies into the spiral followed by a familiar bike chain monster. "Frightfur Daredevil!" A monster that looks like a giant stuffed devil toy holding a pitchfork appears on the field. (Frightfur Daredevil 3000/2200) "Then, since Fluffal Cat was used to fusion summon I can use its ability to return Polymerization to my hand." He lets out a creepy smile. "I activate Polymerization!"

I barely hear Bastion's voice in the background, "a second fusion summon, on his first turn?"

"I combine the Frightfur Daredevil on my field with the Fluffal Sheep in my hand to fusion summon…" The Devil on the field and a yellow sheep with wings fly into the spiral together. "Frightfur Sabre-Tooth!" A blue tiger with blades jutting out of its body in several locations and glowing eyes from its mouth appears on the field. (Frightfur Sabre-Tooth 2400/2000)

"Why would he sacrifice his Daredevil for a monster that's weaker?" Syrus questions Bastion next to him.

"Because of its effect."

"When Frightfur Sabre-Tooth is Fusion summoned I can bring back a Frightfur monster in my graveyard." My eyes widen at his plan. "Welcome back Frightfur Daredevil!" (Frightfur Daredevil 3000/2200) "Oh yeah, and all my Frightfur monsters gain 400 attack points because of my Sabre-Tooth." (Frightfur Sabre-Tooth 2400-2800/2000) (Frightfur Daredevil 3000-3400/2200) "Frightfur Daredevil, destroy his Lapis!" His devil moves to attack Lapis and I glare his way.

"He could end this duel right here!" I hear Bastion say but I shake my head.

"Negate Attack!" My Face-Down flips up, a spiral shield stopping his Daredevil in its tracks. "This card stops your attack and ends your battle phase."

Sora snarls and Bastion's voice once again reaches my ears, "he saved himself this turn, but I don't know if there's anything he can do against that."

"I end my turn with a Face-Down."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 4 Cards in Hand/Sora: 4000 LP 1 Card in Hand 1 Face-Down)**

"I see why you're an Obelisk now," I add a card to my hand. Clenching my teeth, "I change Lapis to defense position and place a monster in Face-Down defense mode." I declare, looking to my hand one more time. "I place one Face-Down and end my turn."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 3 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down/Sora: 4000 LP 1 Card in Hand 1 Face-Down)**

"I see why you're a loser now." He draws a card. "I play Upstart Goblin, giving you 1000 LP so that I can draw a card." He adds another card to his hand. (Skye 4000-5000) "Frightfur Daredevil, attack his face-down monster!"

"Mirror Force!" My Face-Down flips up again, this time the shield in front of my monsters is ready to bounce the attack right back to his monsters.

"Royal Decree!" He shouts out, his Face-Down flipping face-up. A castle appears behind his monsters and a man steps up from the top holding up a piece of paper. "This trap negates all other traps on the field, and it gets to stay out." My Mirror Force disappears.

His Devil finishes its attack causing my Gem-Knight Sapphire to be revealed, a monster in white armor with Sapphires built into his armor. He shatters and I feel a slight pain in my chest. (Skye 5000-4000) "Frightfur Daredevil's ability says that when he destroys a monster you take 1000 points of damage. Frightfur Sabre-Tooth, destroy Lapis!" His tiger swings its tail blade around and cuts Lapis in half before she disappears. "Your move."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 3 Cards in Hand/Sora: 4000 LP 2 Cards in Hand Royal Decree Active)**

"I play Polymerization!" The spiral Sora used earlier appears on the field. "I combine Gem-Knight Crystal with Gem-Knight Garnet to fusion summon…" A white knight with purple crystals in different parts of his armor jumps into the spiral followed by a knight in red and flaming fists. "Gem-Knight Ruby!" A knight in red armor with a scythe and blue cape appears on the field. (Gem-Knight Ruby 2500/1300) "Ruby, attack his Devil!"

"Is he crazy?" Syrus shouts from his seat. "His monster is weaker than both his monsters, why's he attacking?"

"I activate Gem-Merchant's ability!" I discard a monster from my hand and a small creature with a blue gem in his chest and a wizard's hat appears on the field. He reaches into where his eyes are and holds up a ruby, holding it up in the air a blast of fire shoots out of it, hitting Ruby's scythe before Gem-Merchant disappears. (Gem-Knight Ruby 2500-3500/1300-2300) "I can use his ability when my monster is attacked or attacks and that monster gains 1000 attack and defense points until the end of that turn." Ruby's scythe cuts through his devil like a knife through butter and his monster disappears. (Sora 4000-3900) Then I feel something. (Skye 4000-3500)

"When Frightfur Daredevil is destroyed you take 500 points of damage for every Frightfur monster in my graveyard, lucky for you he's alone," Sora explains.

"A small price to be rid of the abomination." Bastion states.

**(Skye: 3500 LP 0 Cards in Hand/Sora: 3900 LP 2 Cards in Hand Royal Decree Active)**

(Gem-Knight Ruby 3500-2500/2300-1300) Sora adds a card to his hand. "I summon Fluffal Bear to the field." A pink bear with wings and a cape appears on the field. "Sabre-Tooth, take care of his Ruby!" His tiger leaps and tears my monster to shreds. (Skye 3500-3200) "Fluffal Bear, direct attack!" His bear flaps its tiny wings and then hits me in the chest. (Skye 3200-2000) "This is where you should be, you put up a good fight. But in the end, you're nothing to me."

"I beat you once, I can do it again," I growl out. Rolling his eyes he ends his turn.

**(Skye: 2000 LP 0 Cards in Hand/Sora: 3900 LP 2 Cards in Hand Royal Decree Active)**

"I set one monster in Face-Down defense and end my turn." It's the only thing I could do, I've got to do something if I'm going to win this.

"That's it?" Syrus questions again and I turn to see my three friends watching me.

**(Skye: 2000 LP 0 Cards in Hand/Sora: 3900 LP 2 Cards in Hand Royal Decree Active)**

Sora draws a card and seems disappointed before placing a card on his disk and a rabbit with wings and a satchel appears on the field before pointing at me. (Fluffal Rabbit 0300/1200) "Sabre-Tooth, attack his monster!" His tiger leaps on top of my card as an elephant with rubies for tusks and built into his hide in different locations of his body appears, before being destroyed. (Gem-Elephant 0400/1900) "Fluffal Bear, direct attack!" His bear flaps its wings to attack me again. (Skye 2000-0800) "Fluffal Rabbit, attack!" (Skye 0800-0500) "This duel is as good as mine. I play a Face-Down."

**(Skye: 0500 LP 0 Cards in Hand/Sora: 3900 LP 2 Cards in Hand Royal Decree Active 1 Face-Down)**

"He's done for!" Syrus wails from behind me.

"Nah." Jaden's voice. "He's just gotta draw the right card."

"Jaden, he has no cards in his hand." Bastion tries to reason with him and I smile placing my hand on the deck.

"_You can do this Skye."_ The voice of Lapis says in my ear. I draw.

"I play Pot of Greed!" I draw two more cards from my deck. My eyes widen upon seeing the cards I drew. Then my smile grows as I come up with a strategy. "I activate Monster Reborn, to bring back Gem-Knight Ruby!" (Gem-Knight Ruby 2500/1300)

"It's still not strong enough for my monsters," Sora states obnoxiously.

"Not yet he isn't." I place the other card I drew onto the field. "I summon Gem-Knight Sardonyx!" A knight wearing red and yellow armor with a sardonyx gem in his chest appears wielding a mace-like weapon with beads appears on the field. (Gem-Knight Sardonyx 1800/0900) "Then I use Ruby's ability to sacrifice Sardonyx to give Ruby his attack points!" Ruby pushes his staff into Sardonyx's gem as his scythe glows a faint yellow-orange before Sardonyx disappears. (Gem-Knight Ruby 2500-4300/1300) "I figured out your plan, it's a big bluff. You summoned your 300 attack point monster because you got impatient and wanted to take me down as fast as possible but all it did was assure your defeat. When you realized your blunder you placed a Face-Down hoping I'd figure it was a trap and avoid it. But your Royal Decree negates all other trap cards on the field. The chances of that being a quick-play spell that can save you are extremely low. Ruby, end this!"

Ruby charges toward the Fluffal Rabbit, slipping past Sabre-Tooth and Fluffal Bear who seem to have tried to get in his way before he cuts the rabbit in half. A shockwave of energy rockets toward Sora who falls on his back like in our last duel. (Sora 3900-0000)

"Guess I win." I hear clapping similar to at the end of Jaden's duel but I only smile as Jaden, Syrus, and Bastion join me on the field.

"That was amazing!" Jaden throws his arms around my neck as Syrus throws his body weight into my side.

"I thought for sure you were gonna lose!"

Rubbing the back of my head, "it wasn't easy." Untangling myself I move toward Sora. "You're a great duelist man, you just gotta get over yourself." I extend my hand to help him up.

He smacks it away, "I don't need help from you." Then he goes back to the stands.

"Incredible!" I hear the Chancellor's voice over the same intercom he'd used before my duel. "Before this year we've never had Slifers duel Obelisks in their exams and now we've had two duels and win. Congratulations Skye, it's an honor to have two new Ra Yellows! Though I'll have to figure out what happened in our scheduling to cause the incidents in the first place..."

"Ra Yellow is glad to have you both." Bastion says.

"Thanks," I admit looking to where Sora disappeared, his back to me as Celina tries to talk to him about something and my smile falls. He may not be a nice guy, but I have no idea what he's gone through, no idea what winning means to him. My fist clenched I make a vow to myself, I'll befriend Sora if it's the last thing I do.

"And this'll be your room." Bastion gestures to a room with a bed that's about the size of two of the ones in the Slifer dorms.

"Do you know where Jaden's room is?" I question setting my duffle bag down on my bed.

"You didn't hear?" Bastion states. "Jaden decided to stay in the Slifer dorm." A smile grows on my face.

"What's with that look?" Bastion asks before he leaves the room.

"Just thinking about some things." Looking over my shoulder I see Gem-Knight Lapis who gives a curt nod. "I've got somewhere to be." Leaving my bag on my new bed I go at a sprint toward the Obelisk dorm.

On the pathway there I see my target. Sora is walking with Celina walking behind him. "Sora, it was just one guy. He beat me too. There's no reason for you to give up."

"Give up?" I question once I'm close enough and the two whirl around to face me. Celina looks at me, eyes wide, and mouths, 'please don't,' to me as Sora narrows his eyes. "This is something I have to do, what is this about giving up?"

"I'm leaving."

"Why?" He doesn't respond, just stares me down.

"One person beat you," I say, my fist clenching at my side. "You're a great duelist, Sora. I came here because I wanted to try and build bridges, become friends. Cuz, the truth is, if shit hits the fan I'd much rather have you by my side then against me or standing around on the sidelines." He opens his mouth to respond but I don't give him the chance. "I don't know what you've been through, what's happened to you, or even who you are. But, I know choose to believe that people are inherently good, and you are better than you think you are. That duel was super close, and I very easily coulda lost." I pause and take a breath before I continue. "What I'm trying to say is that if you leave the Academy loses a great duelist, and I lose someone who could potentially be a good friend."

Then, I extend my hand, hoping that he'll shake it. His gaze falls to it, Celina seems confused and uncomfortable as she shifts from one foot to the other. "You're weird, you know that?"

"I've been told." A smile breaks out on my face.

"I'll stay, and I'll stop tormenting the Slifers." He clasps our hands together. "But I'm not promising friendship, not yet."


	5. Chapter 5

A young woman stands in the middle of a park, duel disk strapped to her arm, she seems to be out of breath, sweat trickles down her face. Across from her is a tall man, wearing dark clothes, his face blank. Seemingly void of any emotion.

"I summon Gem-Knight Sapphire in defense mode!" The woman declares placing a card in her duel disk. A white knight with sapphires embedded in its armor appears, he glances back to the woman, giving a slight nod before creating a wall of ice and crossing his arms in front of him.

"A stupid move!" The man declares as he activates a face-down and Sapphire is shattered. A dark dragon with red markings lets out a roar as the man draws a card and the woman's eyes widen.

"Diabolos, destroy her!" His dragon lets out a torrent of lightning and the woman shrieks in pain. Before she collapses to the ground, her eyes seemingly void of life. "Two down, one to go."

Sweat pouring down my face as I shoot up in my dorm, a scream dying in my throat before it reaches my lips. My heart feels like it's going to break through my chest. My hand shakes in the darkness and I fumble as I attempt to turn the light on next to my bed, almost knocking the lamp to the ground.

When light finally engulfs the room I see that it isn't just my hands that are shaking it's my entire body. 'Who were they?' I can't think too much on it as Lazuli appears at the foot of my bed.

"_Are you okay?" _I move my lips but no sound comes out, as if my voice has been stolen from me. My body pulls itself up as I move toward the private bathroom I'm still getting used to having. I turn the sink on and splash cold water in my face. The cool feeling on my face pushes some of the heat I feel away and I grab a towel and wipe my face before turning to face Lazuli, my back leaning against the sink.

"I don't know." Lapis appears next to Lazuli and her eyes seem to narrow in concern.

"_What did you see?" _My eyes close as I look back to what I'd seen only moments ago and the sight of the woman's eyes after her defeat fills my sight.

"I think I saw someone die." Lazuli and Lapis look to each other and then I hear a voice. "_Two down, one to go."_ My fist clenches at my side. "And I think I might be next."

I was unable to go back to sleep after that so I went ahead and did my morning routine and with the extra time I looked through my deck. None of my cards asked me more about what had happened thankfully. But, if what I saw was real, then I have to be ready.

Not much of importance happens during the day and I was able to get through the majority of my assignments. Yuri and Bastion kept asking me what the problem was but I couldn't tell them I was afraid I was going to die because of some dream. After all my classes I stopped by the gym and noticed the tennis team practicing though I went past them and found an unused punching bag and began beating on it.

Not many people used them but I find that it's a good way to relieve stress. "Didn't realize we even had these."

The voice behind me spooks me and I spin on my heel, fist raised ready to protect myself before it drops to my side when I realize it's Sora. "What's bothering you?"

"Nothing." My voice is snappier than usual, I blame my lack of sleep. "Sorry."

"Why are you so on edge?" Sora questions, his eyes moving up and down as if trying to solve some equation.

"I didn't sleep well." My eyes find the clock and I realize I'd actually been hitting the bag for an hour and my knuckles are sore. Grabbing a towel I wipe myself down and move toward the boys' locker room.

Sora follows me. "I don't care or anything, but I want you at the top of your game when we duel next time. So figure your shit out." Then he leaves me to my thoughts once again. I shower in the locker room before changing back into my uniform and stepping into the chill air, the sun beginning to set in the evening, creating a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors on the horizon.

Beginning the trek to the Ra dorm, I'm thankful that I did all my assignments in class and I don't have anything that I have to get done today. I sit in my room and sort through my deck for a while, the sun completely disappearing in the meantime. Eventually, I decide that I should attempt to get some sleep and as I begin taking my jacket off to get ready to sleep my PDA beeps.

When I look at it Sora's face appears on-screen, he seems scared for some reason. "Skye, I hope you're still awake. I can't find Celina and her friends haven't seen her for a while. If you know where she's at please let me know, if you don't I would appreciate the help."

I grab my deck box and lock it into place on my belt before picking up my recently discarded jacket, not bothering to button it. My hand hits the doorknob and I twist it, the vision of the girl's eyes becoming dark the night before entering my sight as I pull the door open. Just as Celina was planning on knocking on it, at full force apparently, because when her fist makes contact with my chest it hurts.

"Ow," I say before my mind registers that Celina stands in front of me. "Celina!" My voice comes out a whisper, some part of my mind registering that it's the middle of the night and we could get in trouble for her being here.

"Skye!" Her eyes seem to be holding back tears and I pull her inside, hitting the light switch by the door before I lead her to sit in my desk chair. "I haven't seen her and I'm worried. She's strong and I know she can handle herself but I'm still afraid. She's been leaving the dorm a lot lately but she's normally back by now."

"Slow down," I place my hand on her shoulder and she stops talking for a moment. "First things first, I've got to let your brother know where you are." Pulling my PDA out I click Sora's contact and record a brief message to let him know that I found and she's okay before hitting send. "Now," I turn to face Celina again, "who's missing?"

"Alexis!" She says exasperatedly as if the answer to the question is obvious. "She's been going out at night when she comes back and goes to sleep I hear her muttering things in her sleep about Atticus," she must note my questioning gaze because she explains, "her brother that went missing. I'm worried she might've done something stupid."

"I'll go look for her, you should go back to your dorm and let your roommates know you're fine. I think your brother might've given them a heart attack."

"No!" She snaps and for a second I'm worried someone heard her. "I'm not just gonna let you look for her out on your own. You don't even know about the abandoned dorm, do you?"

"Abandoned dorm?" My mind flashes back to the building I saw about a week back in the middle of the woods.

"See." She states with a satisfied huff, taking my questioning statement as confirmation.

"No, I think I've seen it. I could probably find it again actually." I explain, her mouth opens as if to argue with me again before I silence her. "You can come, but if anything happens you go and get help, no questions asked." She nods and we sneak out my dorm as I contemplate messaging Jaden or Yuri, maybe Bastion but ultimately decide against it, no use getting them all in unnecessary trouble.

It takes about ten minutes for us to make our way to the building, thankfully I'd paid attention on my way back to campus from the dorm and I managed to remember. When we arrive I can't help but notice the rose sitting in the front, and several footprints. "There are other people here."

"Do you think one of them could be Alexis?" Celina asks, her voice stronger than it had been when I'd answered my door.

"I'm not an expert tracker, they just walked through some mud," I explain pointing to the mud. We walk past the sign that says to stay out and eventually walk through the front door, boxes litter the floor, windows are shattered, wood splinters are spread around on the floor, I'm unable to look at anything else as a shadow draws my attention. "Who's there!?" I call out.

"You saw me?" A deep voice echoes throughout the room before a man wearing all black, his hair a similar color and covering his eyes. My own widen and I pull my duel disk out and place my deck into it. "It's you, isn't it?"

"Skye, what's he talking about?" Celina questions from my side, I try to move my lips but like the night before no sound comes out.

"You've seen me before when I took care of one of the other Knights," the man says, a smile growing on his face. "You know what's going to happen, to you and your friend."

"Celina, go." The words are out of my mouth before I can think about them and I can feel her gaze on my back as the man pulls out an all-black duel disk.

"Acting as a knight already." The man's smile grows. "You must be the third."

"Skye, what's he talking about?" Celina states her question again.

"Your friend and I are going to duel little girl." The man states as a purple circle extends from his duel disk surrounding the three of us before purple flames surround us. "And then I'll take both your souls."

"Let her go!" I snap out. "I'll duel you, just leave everyone else out of this." 'Whatever this is.' I silently think to myself.

"No," then a sharp pain spreads through my body, worse than anything else I've felt before and I scream, falling to my knees from the sheer surprise of it. "We're going to duel because the Knights must be eliminated."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand/Mystery Man: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand)**

The mystery man adds a card to his hand and his smile falls away as he begins the duel. "I activate the field spell, Lair of Darkness." The room we're in is swallowed in darkness and I feel the fear I'd already had intensify. "Then I activate The Melody of Awakening Dragon and discard Duke Shade, the Sinister Shadow Lord to use its effect, adding Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair to my hand." The name rings clear in my ears and my eyes widen, remembering seeing the dragon attack the woman in my dreams. He grows yet another smile. "You remember him, you fear him."

"I won't let you hurt Celina," I state, clenching my fist, trying to push past my dream.

"_You've got this Skye," _Lapis says from my side and the smile on the man's face grows.

"I knew it was you." I look over to him and see that his gaze is now on Lapis at my side.

"You can see her?"

"What are you talking about?" Celina butts in.

"I place one card face down and end my turn." The mystery man interrupts.

**(Skye: 4000 LP 5 Cards in Hand/Mystery Man: 4000 LP 3 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down)**

I add a card to my hand and study it to see what I can do. "This is really dark," I hear a voice say and look outside the flames to see Yuri.

"Get out of here!" I snap out and his gaze finds mine.

"Skye?"

"Another friend?" The mystery man says and Yuri looks to him eyes widening before he sprints back the way he came. "A coward."

"Insult my friends one more time." My fear is quickly burned away by my anger and I feel the cards in my hand spreading their emotions into me. "Gem-Knight Fusion!" A spiral appears as gems begin to fall into it. "I combine Gem-Knight Emerald and Gem-Knight Garnet to fusion summon…" A knight in green with emeralds built into his armor and a small shield on his wrist jumps into the spiral, his armor disappearing, followed by a knight in red whose hand is on fire before his armor also disappears and his flaming gem combines with the emerald, a bright light shining in the darkness. "Gem-Knight Citrine!"

A knight in bronze armor with a yellow gem in his armor and molten hands and a molten sword, flames on his helmet, and a blue cape on his back. (Gem-Knight Citrine 2200/1950) "Citrine, attack!" My monster leaps forward, ready to deal damage to the man standing across from me.

"I activate my face-down." The man calmly states, only for citrine to shoot molten magma from his hand and cover the card, the substance hardening almost instantly.

"When Citrine attacks or is attacked you can't activate cards or their effects until after the battle ends," I explain as Citrine swings his blade in a large arc through the mystery man who grunts in pain. (Mystery Man 4000-1800 LP)

"This is a knight none of the others had." The man says, a smile growing on his face. "You might actually give me a challenge."

"I wasn't planning on holding back." 'Not while Celina and Yuri are in danger.' "I play one card face-down and end my turn."

**(Skye: 4000 LP 2 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Downs/Mystery Man: 1800 LP 3 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down)**

He adds a card to his hand and then his face-down flips up. "Back to the Front. This trap allows me to summon a monster from my graveyard to my field in defense position." A demon-like monster appears on the field. (Duke Shade, the Sinister Shadow Lord 0500/2000) "Then, thanks to my Lair of Darkness all monsters on the field become dark type and I can tribute one of your dark-type monsters once a turn." He smiles. "I tribute your Citrine and my Duke to summon Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair!" The dragon from my dream appears, only now I get a better look at it. It's a dark dragon with red markings and chains on different parts of its body. (Darkest Diabolos, Lord of the Lair 3000/2000) "Attack!" His dragon charges up lightning around its mouth before it launches in my direction and the second it hits me it feels like my skin is on fire.

"AHH!" I collapse to my knees as the attack stops, sweat dripping down my body, breath coming out in heavy gasps. (Skye 4000-1000 LP)

"Skye!" Celina takes a step toward me but I push myself to a standing position, despite the pain that spreads through my bones.

"You should just give up now." The man says. "Nobody can beat me after I've summoned Diabolos." He smiles. "But it's more fun if you try." He places a card face-down and nods to me.

**(Skye: 1000 LP 2 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Downs/Mystery Man: 1800 LP 2 Cards in Hand 1 Face-Down)**

I add a card to my hand, pain shooting down my arm. "Pot of Greed!" I add two cards to my hand. Three low-level Gem-Knight monsters. My eyes widen, I have a couple of cards I've never had the opportunity to use before.

"Skye!" Looking to my left I see Yuri leading Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley here. My eyes find Alexis draped around Jaden's shoulder, passed out.

"Celina, they've got Alexis!" I gesture to them and her eyes widen.

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, just resting," Jaden responds looking at the darkroom and the flames that surround us. "What's going on here."

"You guys need to find a way to get Celina out of here, I'm not sure if I can take this guy down," I inform them.

"So, you lose." Chumley shrugs his shoulders.

"He says he's going to take his soul!" Celina snaps out.

"So'd that guy downstairs, it was just smoke and mirrors," Jaden says.

"This doesn't feel like smoke and mirrors," I mutter out, my arm throbbing in pain.

"That fool downstairs has no idea the true power a shadow duel commands!" The man across from me exclaims. "The fact that you lump me in with him sets my bones ablaze."

"Whether it's a real duel or not, this guy means business and I don't want any of you getting hurt." My teeth grind together as my gaze finds the dragon's.

"Yes." The man says, before spreading his arms wide. The flames open up behind me and I nod.

"Celina, get out of here. Now." She crosses her arms over her chest and moves her head to the side. To my surprise, Yuri steps into the circle followed by Jaden, who handed Alexis to Chumley and Syrus. The flames then close.

"No," Jaden says, a smile growing on his face. "You've got this."

"You once told my brother that no matter what you don't give up. I believe you can do this." Celina says.

"What they said," Yuri says, his gaze shooting to the flames around us, only now questioning his decision.

"You don't understand." All my emotions feel out of whack and I see the spirit of all my monsters standing around me. Clearly, the man across from me can see them as well and Jaden's eyes seem to widen as well. "I activate the effect of Gem-Knight Fusion in my graveyard! By banishing my Gem-Knight Garnet I can return it to my hand. Then I activate Gem-Knight Fusion to combine Gem-Knight Lapis, Lazuli, and Obsidian in my hand!" A knight in all back armor jumps into the spiral before becoming an obsidian gem followed by Lapis and Lazuli, who do the same. Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond!" A woman knight wielding a longsword with sparkling diamonds on her chest, head, and thighs, along with a red cape, appears on the field. (Gem-Knight Lady Brilliant Diamond 3400/2000) "Then, since Gem-Knight Obsidian was sent from my hand to the graveyard I get to choose one level 4 or lower normal monster in my graveyard and special summon it to the field. I choose Gem-Knight Emerald!" My emerald knight appears on the field. "By using his ability I can tribute him to bring Citrine back to the field!" Gem-Knight Citrine reappears on the field. (Gem-Knight Citrine 2200/1950)

"I've never seen them before," Jaden says as Celina and Yuri stare at Lady Brilliant Diamond in awe.

"This duel ends here." Mystery Man's eyes widen, as if only now realizing he could lose. "Lady Brilliant Diamond, destroy his dragon!" Lady Brilliant Diamond shoots herself forward rocketing past the dragon's clawed hand and bringing her sword through the dragon's neck before it disappears. (Mystery Man 1800-1400) "Citrine, end this." Citrine launches forward magma building in his hand as he throws it on his face-down before swinging his sword through his opponent.

"AHH!" He collapses to the ground, his eyes the same void that the woman in my dream had. The lair of darkness starts to disappear and when it's gone so is my opponent.

"Knew you had it in you, Skye!" Jaden says as I turn to face them, my legs feel like Jelly, and my vision is starting to get hazy.

"Just," my legs give out and I start to fall forward, "gonna take a nap."

**A/N: So this chapter takes place during the two-part Shadow Duelist episodes in the show and while at first I hadn't planned on having Skye there at all my typing ended up bringing him to the abandoned dorm anyway so he was there. I actually wasn't too sure about how this duel turned out because the lair of darkness deck I was using for his opponent used a play-style I don't normally use so if there was something his opponent could've done to turn it around and I messed it up I apologise. Now that that's out of the way, I'm curious. What do you guys think the Mystery Man's deal was? Was it a real shadow duel or fake like Jaden's?**


End file.
